Arsonist sentenced for LA park fires

LOS ANGELES, May 11 (UPI) -- A California man who was on probation for arson has been sentenced to 16 years in prison for starting fires in a Los Angeles park last year, officials said.

Gary Allen Lintz, 44, was sentenced Monday after pleading no contest to arson from a series of fires in Griffith Park in August 2008, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Under a plea agreement, prosecutors dropped three felony counts of arson against Lintz, who admitted to the special allegations of great bodily injury to a firefighter and of having a prior arson conviction.

Lintz was arrested Aug. 23, 2008, after hikers allegedly saw him near Griffith Park Drive shortly after a brushfire erupted. He was eventually charged with four arson counts.

He was on probation for a 2007 arson conviction at the time of his arrest.